Love Triangles (and Quatrelaterals in general) are a staple in romantic and romantic comedy animes. They are also frustrating and ridiculously enraging if the character doesn't just MAKE UP THEIR MIND!

Example: Inuyasha - he's in love with Kikyo and Kagome. Of course, they share the same soul so how could he not be. But after 150+ episodes you don't even know who he chooses! C'mon! Kikyo's a witch with a b, choose Kagome!!!!

Don't even get me STARTED on Tenchi...

Any couples you wished would just Choose each other and put us all out of our misery?

Tenchi and Ryoko. I also thought Ayeka was annoying and spoiled. Of course there's the age issue though. Could you hook up with a girl that's several hundred years older than you? If she's hot, I say why not?

I actually like a romantic triangle in anime ! I believe it brings the story up a natch and gives a insight to the characters in the anime, plus most animes DO have a resolve with the love triangles at the end of a series or go over the top and put it in a movie. Orange Road Actually made a second movie just to show the regrets of the love triangle experience.

But I do agree about the shows that you mentioned BUT I do have a theory! Tenchi like so many other love triangles series is also a harem type anime with more then half the cast liking each other, I think animes like that never try to end and the studios that create the series tend to let who ends up with who go unanswered purposely so the show and its characters will stay popular enough so they can keep making more seasons and sequels.

And sometimes I think that their just lazy.

Plus you mentioned Inuyasha you can even say Ranma ½ which conclusion PISSED me off "Like the last thing we wanted to see is Ranma and Akane waving goodbye WTF" and Urusei Yatsura also did not end anything but that's Rumiko Takahashi fault all the way, Rumiko ALMOST never concludes relationships in her series.

But I think Inuyasha is gonna have a relationship conclusion as well as others in sequels, some have come out 2009 and I think that their will be more.

"Sorry a bit off topic LOL"

But final note I think that the love triangles should always be somewhere in anime, its one of the things that sets it apart from American animation and makes it for adults.

P.S.

Tenchi and Ryoko always!!!!!!!!, "I think Ryoko is one of many characters that deserved to get the guy!"

I don't mind a good love triangle, AnimeXtreme. You're totally right, it makes for a great character dynamic and builds drama and anticipation (as well as give you multiple characters to mix and match with). But sometimes it can be extreme (I'm not putting Harem anime in this mix, because the whole premise is multiple people fighting for one person). I just get so wrapped up and hate to see feelings hurt or someone rejected that I get REALLY sad for the loser or annoyed if the main character is bouncing back and forth between these people. And false resolutions or even worse!
Take Vampire Knight, for example. Yuki has her choice between Kaname or Zero, and while it appears she has chosen one, the other will insert himself back in her life to bring the whole trauma of heart and angsty love all over again!
Then again, this is typical Shojo, so I should be use to it. Including Gentlemen's Alliance Cross when it seems that EVERYONE was in love with Haine and managed to declare their love for her in one way or another...even down to the identical twins and she couldn't decide which one she loved more. I might have started writing fan fics in which she kills herself if she had kept flittering between the 2 much longer... >_<

I like it when there's meaning. Like when it's up in the air who the character will pick until near the end.
So something like, say, Ai Yori Aoshi, where the extra girls are little more than just that - extras. From the first episode, it's obvious Aoi and Kaoru will end up together. There is NO doubt of this, throughout the entire series. So Tina, while certainly amusing, is little more than a nuisance impeding the progress of the relationship that isn't going to alter no matter what happens.
That kind I don't care for, because it's meaningless.

I recently watched Macross Frontier, and I spent the whole series wanting to smack people around for stringing others along. The whole Ranka-Alto-Sheryl triangle was so frustrating!

I can see how the storyline would've died without it, though; the desire to win Alto's heart kept Sheryl and Ranka pushing themselves as hard as they could, and that's how they achieved amazing things in the series.

I was annoyed with Mikhail and Klan, too, but that was eventually resolved. *tear*

I agree with Kris, a love triangle is great when it has weight and meaning. The love triangle in Peach Girl springs instantly to mind; Momo had real, meaningful relationships with both Touji and Kairi at certain points, and it was impossible to tell who she would choose right up to the end - or even who you wanted her to choose! Same with Vampire Knight, Yuki could legitimately have gone with either Kaname or Zero, and the tension lasted to the very end.

But when you have the 'rival for love' that is just there to create misunderstandings and force the obvious couple to fight so they can make up, its mostly just a headache. Prime example for me is Yokozawa from World's Greatest First Love. Yeah, he and Takano had a relationship, but its obvious that he is head over heels for Onodera; Yokozawa is just there to make Onodera feel insecure, which just makes me roll my eyes and want to kick all three of them where it hurts.

An exception that proves the rule here is the love triangle in Skip Beat!; obviously Kyoko and Ren are going to end up together, and Sho is just being a possessive, two-faced nuisance. However, it is still interesting to see him trying to interfere with her life, because it creates depth and development in his character, and contributes to the building climax of the story, in which Kyoko will have her revenge by making Sho regret the way he treated her. So I guess even tired cliches like the ineffectual love rival can still be put to new and creative uses that keep it relevant.

But I frequently want to kill the main character in harem anime for the wishy-washy pushover troublemakers they are - prime examples that spring to mind are Yui from Diabolik Lovers and Tsukune from Rosario + Vampire (though in the manga, he actually became kind of cool - but anime Tsukune can go die immediately).

The exception there is when they make their feelings clear, and their harem doesn't listen:

Quote:

MC: "No! No way!"
Harem: "So that's a maybe then?"
MC: "Stop touching me!"
Harem: "If it bothers you that much, you must like it a lot!"
MC: "Never in a million years!"
Harem: "So what your saying is that we should try harder?"
MC: *facepalm*
Harem: *pounce*

When that's the case I just want to pat them pityingly on the head and sit back with a bowl of popcorn to snicker mean-spiritedly at the comically overdone sexual harassment. Main example of this for me is Brothers Conflict - Ema keeps telling them that she just wants to be one big happy family, formally rejects the love confessions of at least half of them, and yet all thirteen step brothers just keep throwing themselves at her like bugs on a windshield. Plus, the whole unrequited love thing is charming, hilarious and heartbreaking by turns, especially paired with the 'forbidden love' angle.

__________________
"Life is too important to be taken seriously." --Oscar Wilde